At this year’s EWB National Conference in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Jan. 5th-10th, the EWB-UT chapter was recognized as EWB Canada’s Chapter of the Year. This award represents the commitment of our chapter members to continuous growth and learning, and fulfills the chapter’s value on excellence. Over 50 members have contributed to our success in the past 12 months, and as a result we have seen changes at both the faculty and personal level. Believing that leadership is driven by purpose, our Leadership Development Program (LDP) has been a key resource in helping members improve their personal leadership skills, while our faculty relations and curriculum enhancement teams have sought out opportunities to dialogue with faculty about the role of engineering in the global community. Our chapter’s desire and ability to create innovative opportunities to engage students, professionals, and faculty about global issues and international development is a manifestation of the passion of our members to create positive change in the world.

To gain an understanding of the magnitude of the chapter’s initiatives, the majority of members spend at least 5 hrs a week on EWB related activities, with executives spending upwards of 15-20 hrs a week. We have grown steadily over the past 4 years in not only the quantity of our activities but the quality of them and we are grateful for being recognized with this award. The chapter’s value of community has created an environment where every member is valued, and given the opportunity to reach their personal maximum potential. We believe that this commitment to each other set’s our chapter apart.

Furthermore, we have noticed now more than ever that the key leadership qualities of our members are ambition, vision, and passion. We aspire to embody these three characteristics in everything we do at EWB-UT: our ambition to be creative in our events and team-building activities; our vision to continually take a holistic approach to problem solving, and innovation; and our unwavering passion to accomplish our (often) lofty goals. 

Other defining traits of our chapter include reflection and leadership. Introspectiveness is essential to our culture of feedback, allowing us to learn from our strengths and weakness following every one of our activities. This focus on leadership encourages new members to champion new projects, and pursue fresh ideas, while allowing older members to pass on knowledge and experiences to those new to EWB.

We could not have accomplished so much in the past 12 months without the support of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, and many others across the University of Toronto. In partnership we are creating change both in Canada!

From the EWB-UT Chapter, we would like to thank you all for your support!